According to rumors, AMD is in the process of developing its next-generation CCD (core complex die) based on the "Zen 6" microarchitecture, using the 3 nm TSMC N3E foundry node. These rumors come from the ChipHell forum, which has been accurate with AMD-related rumors in the past. It is also speculated that AMD will update the I/O dies for its upcoming generation, manufacturing them on the 4 nm foundry node, likely the TSMC N4C. The TSMC N3E node is expected to offer a 20% increase in speed, over 30% power savings, and around 60% higher logic density compared to the TSMC N5. On the other hand, the TSMC N4P node, currently used for the "Zen 5" chiplets, only shows minor improvements in logic density and power over N5. The N3E node utilizes EUV double-patterning to achieve its enhanced logic density.
One of the most intriguing updates is the new-generation I/O dies. AMD is planning to manufacture these on the 4 nm node, a significant advancement from the 6 nm node used for the current I/O dies. With the 4 nm node, AMD will be able to introduce a new cIOD with an updated iGPU, possibly based on a newer graphics architecture like RDNA 3.5. There is also a possibility of integrating an NPU. Additionally, key I/O components such as DDR5 memory controllers may be updated to support higher memory speeds enabled by CUDIMMs. It is unlikely that there will be changes to the PCIe interface, as AMD is expected to continue with Socket AM5, providing 28 PCIe Gen 5 lanes from the cIOD. The USB interface from the processor could potentially be upgraded to USB4 through an on-die host controller. On the server side, the new-generation sIOD will bring improvements to DDR5 memory speeds through clock drivers.
There are also rumors circulating about potential updates in the graphics department. Depending on the performance of the Radeon RX 9000 series and RDNA 4 in the market, AMD may introduce a new UDNA architecture in its next generation, which will be common to both graphics and compute. The upcoming discrete GPUs from AMD will be based on the TSMC N3E foundry node.
